First Searches for Optical Counterparts to Gravitational-Wave Candidate Events

First Searches for Optical Counterparts to Gravitational-Wave Candidate Events . Aasi, J., Abadie, J., Abbott, B. P., Abbott, R., Abernathy, M. R., Adhikari, R. X., Ajith, P., Anderson, R. A., Anderson, S. B., Arai, K., Araya, M. C., Austin, L., Barayoga, J. C., Billingsley, G., Black, E., Blackburn, J. K., Bork, R., Brooks, A. F., Cepeda, C., Chakraborty, R., Chalermsongsak, T., Coyne, D. C., Daudert, B., Dergachev, V., Driggers, J. C., Ehrens, P., Etzel, T., Fotopoulos, N., Gushwa, K. E., Gustafson, E. K., Hall, E., Harms, J., Heefner, J., Lewis, J. B., Litvine, V., Lloyd, D., Mageswaran, M., Mailand, K., Maros, E., Martynov, D., Marx, J. N., McIntyre, G., Meshkov, S., Nash, T., Ogin, G. H., Osthelder, C., Pedraza, M., Phelps, M., Poux, C., Price, L. R., Privitera, S., Quintero, E., Raymond, V., Reitze, D. H., Robertson, N. A., Rollins, J. G., Sannibale, V., Seifert, F., Singer, A., Singer, L., Smith, M. R., Smith-Lefebvre, N. D., Taylor, R., Thirugnanasambandam, M. P., Thrane, E., Torrie, C. I., Vass, S., Wallace, L., Weinstein, A. J., Whitcomb, S. E., Williams, R., Yamamoto, H., Yeaton-Massey, D., Zhang, L., Zweizig, J., Chen, Y., Gossan, S., Hong, T., Kaufman, K., Luan, J., Miao, H., Thorne, K. S., Vallisneri, M., Yang, H., Drever, R. W. P., Cao, Y., Laher, R. R., Nissanke, S., Heptonstall, A. W., Hodge, K. A., Jacobson, M., James, E., Kalmus, P., Kells, W., King, P. J., Kondrashov, V., Korth, W. Z., Kozak, D., Lazzarini, A., & Kasliwal, M. M. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 211(1):Art. No. 7, American Astronomical Society, March, 2014. o̧pyright 2014 American Astronomical Society. Received 2013 October 30; accepted 2014 January 18; published 2014 February 11. We thank J. Barnes, D. Kasen, B. Metzger, and E. Nakar for providing the kilonova model light curves that we have used in our Figures 4?7. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the United States National Science Foundation for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck-Society, and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for support of the construction and operation of the GEO600 detector, and the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare and the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique for the construction and operation of the Virgo detector. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of the research by these agencies and by the Australian Research Council, the International Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of Italy, the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, the Conselleria d?Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes Balears, the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the FOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish Science, the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, OTKA of Hungary, the Lyon Institute of Origins (LIO), the National Research Foundation of Korea, Industry Canada and the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the National Science and Engineering Research Council Canada, the Carnegie Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Research Corporation, FIRB 2012 Project RBFR12PM1F (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research), and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This work is based on results partially obtained at the ESO observatory, La Silla. The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. This document has been assigned the identifier LIGO-P1200171-v19.

Paper abstract bibtex

During the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory and Virgo joint science runs in 2009-2010, gravitational wave (GW) data from three interferometer detectors were analyzed within minutes to select GW candidate events and infer their apparent sky positions. Target coordinates were transmitted to several telescopes for follow-up observations aimed at the detection of an associated optical transient. Images were obtained for eight such GW candidates. We present the methods used to analyze the image data as well as the transient search results. No optical transient was identified with a convincing association with any of these candidates, and none of the GW triggers showed strong evidence for being astrophysical in nature. We compare the sensitivities of these observations to several model light curves from possible sources of interest, and discuss prospects for future joint GW-optical observations of this type.

@article{caltechauthors44724,
volume = {211},
number = {1},
month = {March},
author = {J. Aasi and J. Abadie and B. P. Abbott and R. Abbott and M. R. Abernathy and R. X. Adhikari and P. Ajith and R. A. Anderson and S. B. Anderson and K. Arai and M. C. Araya and L. Austin and J. C. Barayoga and G. Billingsley and E. Black and J. K. Blackburn and R. Bork and A. F. Brooks and C. Cepeda and R. Chakraborty and T. Chalermsongsak and D. C. Coyne and B. Daudert and V. Dergachev and J. C. Driggers and P. Ehrens and T. Etzel and N. Fotopoulos and K. E. Gushwa and E. K. Gustafson and E. Hall and J. Harms and J. Heefner and J. B. Lewis and V. Litvine and D. Lloyd and M. Mageswaran and K. Mailand and E. Maros and D. Martynov and J. N. Marx and G. McIntyre and S. Meshkov and T. Nash and G. H. Ogin and C. Osthelder and M. Pedraza and M. Phelps and C. Poux and L. R. Price and S. Privitera and E. Quintero and V. Raymond and D. H. Reitze and N. A. Robertson and J. G. Rollins and V. Sannibale and F. Seifert and A. Singer and L. Singer and M. R. Smith and N. D. Smith-Lefebvre and R. Taylor and M. P. Thirugnanasambandam and E. Thrane and C. I. Torrie and S. Vass and L. Wallace and A. J. Weinstein and S. E. Whitcomb and R. Williams and H. Yamamoto and D. Yeaton-Massey and L. Zhang and J. Zweizig and Y. Chen and S. Gossan and T. Hong and K. Kaufman and J. Luan and H. Miao and K. S. Thorne and M. Vallisneri and H. Yang and R. W. P. Drever and Y. Cao and R. R. Laher and S. Nissanke and A. W. Heptonstall and K. A. Hodge and M. Jacobson and E. James and P. Kalmus and W. Kells and P. J. King and V. Kondrashov and W. Z. Korth and D. Kozak and A. Lazzarini and M. M. Kasliwal},
note = {{\copyright} 2014 American Astronomical Society. Received 2013 October 30; accepted 2014 January 18; published 2014 February 11. We thank J. Barnes, D. Kasen, B. Metzger, and E. Nakar for
providing the kilonova model light curves that we have used in our Figures 4?7. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the United States National Science Foundation for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck-Society, and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for support of the construction and operation of the GEO600 detector, and the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare and the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique for the construction and operation of the Virgo detector. The authors also gratefully
acknowledge the support of the research by these agencies
and by the Australian Research Council, the International Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of Italy, the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, the Conselleria d?Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes Balears, the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the FOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish Science, the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, OTKA of Hungary, the Lyon Institute of Origins (LIO), the National
Research Foundation of Korea, Industry Canada and the
Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the National Science and Engineering Research Council Canada, the Carnegie Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Research Corporation, FIRB 2012 Project RBFR12PM1F (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research), and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This work is based on results partially obtained at the ESO observatory, La Silla. The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. This document has been assigned the identifier LIGO-P1200171-v19.},
title = {First Searches for Optical Counterparts to Gravitational-Wave Candidate Events },
publisher = {American Astronomical Society},
year = {2014},
journal = {Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series},
pages = {Art. No. 7},
keywords = {

binaries: close; catalogs; gravitational waves; stars: neutron; surveys},
url = {http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20140408-071345962},
abstract = {During the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory and Virgo joint science runs in 2009-2010, gravitational wave (GW) data from three interferometer detectors were analyzed within minutes to select GW candidate events and infer their apparent sky positions. Target coordinates were transmitted to several telescopes for follow-up observations aimed at the detection of an associated optical transient. Images were obtained for eight such GW candidates. We present the methods used to analyze the image data as well as the transient search results. No optical transient was identified with a convincing association with any of these candidates, and none of the GW triggers showed strong evidence for being astrophysical in nature. We compare the sensitivities of these observations to several model light curves from possible sources of interest, and discuss prospects for future joint GW-optical observations of this type.}
}

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